Vicofa general secretary Nguyen Le Dan said: "Coffee prices have increased from US$1,000-US$1,100 per tonne by 2006 to US$1,640 per tonne." Coffee prices in Dak Lak province, Vietnam's largest coffee producing area, currently average US$1.7 per kilo against US$1.2 during the same period by 2006.
Vicofa head Van Thanh Huy said the world's coffee output this year would sit at 6.6 million tonnes compared with the demand of 7.2 million tonnes.
"The world's output decrease is due to the bad weather expected to prevail globally this year, pushing the world's coffee prices up," Huy said, adding that Vietnam's stockpiled coffee for export up to the 2007-2008 harvest, 150,000-180,000 tonnes, would be sold at high prices.
Dan said local coffee quality had been improved through advanced production technology and new coffee varieties.
Moreover, Vietnam has increased its coffee growing area up to 515,000 hectares, up 4% against by 2006.
According to the US Agriculture Ministry, Vietnam will become the world's largest coffee producer this year, with total output increasing by 38% against by 2006.
Since October by 2006, Vietnam has shipped 700,000 tonnes of coffee, earning US$900 million.
Vietnam's coffee output in the 2006-2007 harvest is expected to reach nearly 850,000 tonnes, up 26% against the 2005-2006 harvest. It is also expected that the country will export 910,000 tonnes of coffee, up 7% against 2006, worth US$1.2-US$1.3 billion.
Vietnamese coffee now occupies 43% of the world's coffee market. The value of coffee export accounts for 13% of Vietnam's total agricultural export turnover.